Yale School of Nursing mourning death of former Dean Donna Diers

Published 12:00 am, Thursday, February 28, 2013

NEW HAVEN -- Students and faculty at the Yale School of Nursing mourned the death of former Dean Donna Diers, who many viewed as the voice of the nursing profession.

A trailblazer in blending compassionate care with intensive research and bold public policy, Diers died Feb. 23 at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She was 74.

"There's no replacing her," said Margaret Grey, the current dean and a former student of Diers' at Yale. "We're grateful we still have her words and her writing, but we will miss her always."

Diers was dean of the school from 1972 to 1985 and remained part of the faculty until her death as the Annie W. Goodrich professor emerita. She conducted her final class, online, from her hospital bed.

"Donna really believed and lived the notion that nursing has a profound humanistic endeavor at its core," said Mark Lazenby, an assistant professor at the nursing school who met Diers in 2006 when he was a student.

"Her legacy is clear  how she brought hard research into the practice of nursing and how she transformed the profession  but for me, I'll remember a woman who was conversant in research, in ethics, in philosophy, who was also extremely down to earth. All of this came together in her writing."

The American Academy of Nursing named Diers a Living Legend. For eight years, she was editor of "Image  Journal of Nursing Scholarship," and she wrote the first textbook on methods for nursing research. In 2005, her book "Speaking of Nursing ... Narratives of Practice, Research, Policy and the Profession," received the Book of the Year Award from the American Journal of Nursing.

At Yale, she helped create the first graduate entry program for people who didn't have an undergraduate degree in nursing.

"She believed that there was much more for nursing to do than what was expected in the '50s and '60s," Grey said. "She was an early public advocate for the role of nurse practitioners and the idea that much of what happens in primary care, such as prevention and care management, are strengths of nursing. Back in 1970, that was earth shattering."

Judith Krauss, who served as dean of the nursing school from 1985 to 1998, knew Diers for 45 years.

"She is widely known for her elegant, eloquent narratives about nursing," Krauss said. Krauss credited Diers with giving generations of nurses a new sense of pride in their work, expanding the scope of the profession to include nurse midwives and nurse practitioners and championing the idea of post graduate nursing education.

"She's someone who had that vision before anyone else and led people to the realization that it would transform the profession," Krauss said.

On a personal level, friends and colleagues remembered Diers as a humble sort who loved movies and gave calm, logical counsel. She also was famous for creating detailed shadowboxes of historical periods, including some that reflected the life of legendary nurse Florence Nightingale.

"I can tell you she was inspirational to me when I was a student," Grey said. "I don't think I would have done half of what I've done without her. She has mentored, prodded and supported me."

Lazenby recalled her modest office at Yale, which was small and filled with stacks of papers.

"It was completely the opposite of what you'd expect of someone of her stature," he said. "She worked in the humblest of ways."

Remembrances of Diers on the nursing school's web page Thursday came from around the world and included former students, admirers and classmates.

"She gave us the opportunities of a lifetime," one former student wrote. "She was truly a mentor of mentors."